Town manager Paul Jewell says that ideally he’d love to have all his summer signings at the club when pre-season training starts on June 29th but admits that that’s not a realistic prospect. The Blues boss says he has his summer plans in place and has held long meetings with owner and chairman Marcus Evans as he looks towards his first full season in charge at Portman Road.

Jewell said: “Every manager will tell you that you he would like to have his squad on the first day of pre-season, but that isn’t going to happen.

“I said this every single season I’ve been a manager, but you never do. But if we can get a few in before we start training on 29th June, if we can get as much business done between now and then all the better, but that’s naïve really because at the end of the day things come along and situations change — you might get an injury to a key player that you might need to replace.

“It’s not like the season finishes and we start looking, we’ve been looking for a while anyway to try to put things in place for next season.”

The Town manager says he knows what he has to do in the summer: “We’ve got plans. Obviously everyone’s restricted by budgets, whoever you are, unless you’re Manchester City. We’ve have plans to try to improve the squad and to improve on the season we’ve had this year.

“That’s the only goal, we’re not going to make any promises other than that I know I’ll give everything I’ve got to try to improve the team and improve the squad and improve on the season we’ve had.

“A club of this size, in our supporters’ eyes, should be pushing near the top end rather than being in mid-table.

“But, having said that, we’re in a league with about 14 teams of that ilk. We’re all trying to chase the same type of players for next season, but hopefully, if we can, we can get in quicker than most.”

Jewell says he has liaised closely with Marcus Evans over a number of conversations, including a recent five-hour discussion with the owner and chief executive Simon Clegg at Evans’s Dublin HQ: “I’ve spoken to the owner, I think he’s away at the moment.

“We’ve sat down and had two or three long meetings about what we’re going to try and do next season recruitment-wise.

“As long as people are straight with me, I have no problem with that. I know exactly what we’ve got and what we haven’t got and I’ll get on with it and try and improve [the squad].”

Photo: Action Images

Mungo added 15:01 - Apr 9 Looking forward to a good summer and some shrewd signings. No expensive duds please PJ!
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jas0999 added 19:23 - Apr 9 Well, we failed to do the deals early under Roy - despite him having targets - so I don't expect anything different for PJ.
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StowTractorBoy added 20:01 - Apr 9 I suspect PJ won't go for the likes of Chopra at £4m and Derry who wanted a massive pay packet. Because of this I have high hopes that PJ will have a decent squad if not complete by the time we kick off. It looks as though we have another find in Carson and heavens above we now have some pace. Looking forward to next season already.
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bluelady added 20:42 - Apr 9 Hinting here,he hasnt massive budget, that said not always a bad thing quality striker and some astute signings from lower league and away we go
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broomfield123 added 22:22 - Apr 9 How about m voltz back
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Hungry_Badger added 00:14 - Apr 10 hopefully he can be given the same money as Keane but actually buy someone who can actually score a goal.
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bluelady added 06:16 - Apr 10 I think Carson proved you don't necessaryily need money, yest played better than nearly two million Martin has ever played in a blue and didn't cost a penny!!! Dont get me wrong been happy with Martin this yr but still doesn't have the final ball like Carson showed yesterday....
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DiamondGezzer added 07:52 - Apr 10 Bluelady :- Agree, Martin has come on leaps and bounds since PJ's arrival, and Carson, what a breath of fresh air. I think he alone will help season ticket sales. And more like him champing at the bit [ Joe white and Co ]. As already stated, can't wait for next season.
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bluearmy4life added 10:04 - Apr 10 I really hope PJ Is given the money to help improve are squad. 3 or 4 million would'nt be a bad start but it could potentially be more if Wickham gets a offer we can't refuse.Who knows. But the real pressure is with Clegg and evans to secure the deals. If we have a similar summer like last it won't be acceptable.
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WREXHAM_BLUE added 13:44 - Apr 10 Paul Jewell''s got bags of experience and is a down to earth and shrewd guy in my opinion. I have every faith that our transfer activity won't be anything like as frustrating as it has been for the past 3-4 seasons and expect a positive outlook for next season. COYB!
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TractorRoyNo1 added 00:52 - Apr 11 he will have no serious money to spend until wickham goes and that may be well into august when the big boys start to panic buy
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BlueBadger added 13:26 - Jun 18 Clegg's fault.
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